The origins and development of physician anaesthesiology training in Papua New Guinea: From colonial days to the current era.

Papua New Guinea is a Pacific country that remains an enigma to the world at large. Despite massive geographical challenges due to mountainous terrain, remote islands, poverty, and with 80% of the population of over eight million living in rural villages, Papua New Guinea has managed to develop national medical and postgraduate specialty training. The first recorded anaesthetic was administered in Papua New Guinea in 1880 and the first anaesthetist trained in 1968.

History of non-physician anaesthesia providers in Papua New Guinea: from heil tultuls to Anaesthetic Scientific Officers.

The most recent estimates, published in 2016, have indicated that around 70% of anaesthesia providers in Papua New Guinea are non-physician anaesthetic providers and that they administer over 90% of anaesthetics, with a significant number unsupervised by a physician anaesthetist. Papua New Guinea has a physician anaesthetist ratio estimated to be 0.25 per 100,000 population, while Australia and New Zealand have a ratio of 19 physician anaesthetists per 100,000, which is 75 times that of Papua New Guinea.

Dr Himson Tamur Mulas, the first national specialist anaesthetist in Papua New Guinea.

Dr Himson Tamur Mulas was born on the Gazelle Peninsula of East New Britain, New Guinea, on 13 March 1934. After finishing his schooling, he was selected to go to Fiji to undertake a medical course at Fiji Central Medical School in 1953, returning to New Guinea in 1958. He successfully completed residency posts and after a period of training in anaesthesia in Port Moresby, was sent to the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, in 1966-1967 to further his anaesthetic career.

The impact of "unseasonably" warm spring temperatures on acute myocardial infarction hospital admissions in Melbourne, Australia: a city with a temperate climate.

The effects of extreme temperatures on human health have been well described. However, the adverse health effects of warm weather that occurs outside the summer period have had little attention. We used daily anomalous AMI morbidity and daily anomalous temperature to determine the impact of "unseasonable" temperature on human health.

Transcutaneous pulsed radiofrequency treatment for patients with shoulder pain booked for surgery: a double-blind, randomized controlled trial.

Shoulder pain is the third most common musculoskeletal problem and accounts for 5% of general practitioner consultations. Although many treatments are described, there is no consensus on optimal treatment and up to 40% of patients still have pain 12 months after initially seeking help for pain. Previously, the effect of transcutaneous pulsed radiofrequency treatment (TCPRFT) was evaluated in a retrospective audit that showed good pain relief for a mean 395 days and justified this randomized sham controlled trial.

Transcutaneous application of pulsed radiofrequency treatment for shoulder pain.

Unlabelled: We report a retrospective audit of transcutaneous pulsed radiofrequency treatment therapy (TCPRFT) for shoulder pain over a 4-year period.

Methods:   Electronic and manual case review revealed that TCPRFT had been performed on 13 patients, with 15 painful shoulders, using a single treatment session between 2006 and 2010 in an outpatient setting.

Results:   Of the 15 shoulders treated, 10 (two-thirds) had pain relief for over 3 months with an average pain score reduction of 6.

Improving the C-MAC video laryngoscopic view when applying cricoid pressure by allowing access of assistant to the video screen.

Cricoid pressure, as part of rapid sequence induction, may on occasion worsen laryngoscopic views and intubating conditions. We investigated whether allowing the assistant applying cricoid pressure to view the video laryngoscope screen would improve the laryngoscopic views compared to when they were blinded to the video screen. Laryngoscopy using the C-MAC video laryngoscope was performed in 51 patients undergoing elective general anaesthesia.

Transcutaneous pulsed radiofrequency treatment in patients with painful knee awaiting total knee joint replacement.

Objective: Our study was designed to determine if transcutaneous-pulsed radiofrequency treatment (TCPRFT) was able to reduce the pain experienced by patients awaiting total knee joint replacement (TKJR). We conducted a randomized, double-blinded, placebo controlled trial of TCPRFT in patients referred for TKJR to our hospital's Orthopedic Outpatient Clinic.

Methods: Patients on the waiting list for assessment for TKJR were invited to participate and were examined in the clinic if they satisfied the inclusion criteria.

Randomized, double blinded comparative trial of intradermal injections of lignocaine versus N-saline around the knee to relieve pain in patients awaiting total knee replacement.

Objectives: We report a randomized, double-blinded comparative study assessing the efficacy of local anesthetic with N-saline intradermal blocks around the knee to reduce pain and improve patient satisfaction while waiting for a total knee joint replacement.

Methods: Patients were offered involvement in this study while on the hospital waiting list for a knee replacement. Eligible patients, after completing a prestudy assessment, received an average of 6.